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Morning Call: Grant hits milestone as Warriors rout Mansfield

EAST STROUDSBURG - Junior guard Whis Grant scored 23 points, becoming the third player to score 1,000 career points as a junior in school history, as East Stroudsburg University opened defense of its PSAC East regular season title with an 88-65 win over Mansfield on Wednesday night at Koehler Fieldhouse.

Grant scored nine points in the first half as the Warriors opened a 52-30 lead - then scored 10 of ESU's first 17 in the first 6:30 of the second half to hit the 1,000-point mark. He reached the plateau with a three-pointer from the right corner, giving the Warriors their largest lead of the game (69-39) with 13:23 remaining.

Grant, last year's PSAC East Player of the Year and an All-America honorable mention selection, entered the season with 925 career points, the most through two years in school history and four more than all-time leading scorer Jonathan Roberts (2,218 career points, 1986-90) had as a sophomore.

He joins Roberts (1,529 points) and Don Bones (1,269 points) as the only juniors to hit the 1,000-point mark at ESU. Bones is the school's second-leading scorer with 1,775 points (1976-81). There are now 26 1,000-point scorers in school history.

Grant finished the night with 1,004 career points after entering with 981. He scored 56 points in the first four games, leading ESU with 14.0 points per game.

The Warriors have opened 5-0 (1-0 PSAC East) for just the fourth time since 1943. ESU's 13-0 start in 2009-10 is tied for the school's best-ever undefeated start to a season.

ESU is coming off its second PSAC East regular season title in the last four years under head coach Jeff Wilson, who was named PSAC East Coach of the Year both seasons (2010, 2013). The Warriors have also made four straight PSAC Final Four's, including winning the 2012 championship, and three trips to the NCAA DII Tournament in four seasons.

Freshman forward Rasheed Moore, the reigning PSAC East Freshman of the Week, had 13 points and six rebounds, and redshirt junior guard Will Brown added 10 points off the bench.

The Warriors had 11 players reach the scoring column with junior forward Lamont Tillery (6 points, 7 rebounds) leading the team on the backboards and tying his career-high.

ESU, 11th in Division II in turnover margin (+4.9) last year, held a 28-15 advantage against the Mounties and a 31-6 edge in points off turnovers.

Junior Joe Bell, a two-time All-PSAC East selection, had 22 points and eight rebounds to pace Mansfield (1-3, 0-1).

The Mounties held an early 9-8 lead before the Warriors ripped off a 20-3 run in the next five minutes, and led by at least 14 the rest of the way.

It was 52-30 at halftime as redshirt junior Muhamadou Kaba had a steal and layup just before the buzzer. The Warriors never led by less than 21 in the second half.

ESU is averaging 89.2 points through its first five games with four players in double figures – Grant (15.8), Moore (12.6), Brown (11.2) and sophomore guard Jamal Nwaniemeka (10.4).

Moore is the only Warrior to score 10+ points in all five games. He averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 rebounds in four games to earn the PSAC East Freshman of the Week, and topped both numbers with 13 points and six rebounds against Mansfield.

The Warriors make the short trek to Kutztown for a 3 p.m. start on Saturday. KU (1-1) was the only PSAC East school not assigned a divisional game on Wednesday night and opens its conference schedule this weekend. The Golden Bears fell to visiting Wilmington, 76-70, on Wednesday.


GAME NOTES
* ESU is first among others receiving votes in this week's NABC Division II Coaches Poll.
* The Warriors have been ranked in two of the last four years. Last year, they were ranked for 6 straight weeks and as high as No. 9, the highest in school history, on February 12.
* They were also ranked for 6 weeks during the 2009-10 season, reaching No. 12 on February 10.

* The win is ESU's sixth straight against Mansfield, its longest stretch in the series since winning 8 straight from 1932 to 1938.

* ESU is 5-0 for the 4th time since 1943. Other starts of at least 5-0 came in 1971-72 (10-0), 1991-92 (7-0) and 2009-10 (13-0).
* Prior to World War II, the Warriors opened 12-0 (entire season) in 1942-43, 12-0 in 1941-42, 7-0 in 1932-33 and 9-0 (program's first 9 games) in 1926-27.

* ESU shot 43.2 percent (32-for-74), the first time in five games the Warriors have been under 50 percent.
* Grant's 1,000th-point, which gave ESU a 69-39 lead with 13:23 left, made the Warriors 24-for-48 in the game – they were 8-for-24 the rest of the way.

* Grant made three 3-pointers, giving him 133 in his career. He ranks 3rd in school history behind Andy Heimbach (236, 2006-10) and Juwan Justice (162, 1998-02).

* Grant scored 431 points as a freshman, 2nd-most in school history. He averaged 13.9 points to lead ESU's 2011-12 PSAC championship team in scoring – the first freshman to lead a PSAC championship team in scoring in at least 25 years.

* He had 494 points as a sophomore, averaging 17.6 points per game and becoming ESU's first PSAC East Athlete of the Year since 1991 (Keith Fisher), first All-America since 1993 (Lonnie White), and first All-Region player since 1994 (Eric White).

* Grant was named to the Division II Bulletin "Super 16" prior to the season, which selects two players from each of DII's eight regions.

* Grant had his 17th career game with 20+ points, hitting the mark 5 times as a freshman, 11 as a junior, and once this year.  ESU is 13-4 in those games.
* He has two career games of 30 points, both in season openers - 2011-12 vs. West Liberty, and 2012-13 vs. Alderson-Broaddus.

* He hit the 1,000-point mark in his 64th career game. He has scored 10+ points in 53 games.